“Worcestershire Works Well is invaluable in helping us take a holistic and co-ordinated approach to improving our staff health and wellbeing.”
The Business
Wyre Forest District Council serves Kidderminster, Bewdley, Stourport-on-Severn and the surrounding rural area. We provide a range of services, including refuse/ recycling collections, looking after local parks, nature reserves and car parks, Council Tax and Benefits, planning, housing services, sports development, Bewdley Museum, economic development and regeneration. We currently employ approx. 333 people (303 full time equivalent), based at four main sites, some of whom are mainly office based and some who are out and about for the majority of their time.
The Worcestershire Works Well impact
The focus on Worcestershire Works Well has helped The Council better co-ordinate health and wellbeing activity for our employees across the council and to raise awareness, including at a senior level. The scheme has led us to look at health and wellbeing more holistically, helping us to recognise our strengths and identify/ address our weaknesses. Our annual health surveys have shown encouraging results overall, with improvements in terms of staff happiness and job/ life satisfaction, reduced stress levels and improved eating habits/ activity levels. Staff sickness rates fell significantly from 2011/12 to 2014/15, although we did then see an increase and have put measures in place to address this. The recognition the scheme provides through accreditation is always welcomed and shows that this is important to WFDC, particularly during challenging times for local government.
What did you find useful about the service provided by the Worcestershire Works Well team?
The range of support available from the Worcestershire Works Well team has been really useful. The toolkit has helped steer our activity and has provided useful guidance for our staff working group. It helped us to recognise our strengths and identify our weaker areas and put measures in place to address these. Having champions for the various themes has helped to spread the load and given individuals specific topics to focus on. Having a dedicated mentor has also been great, we can go to Amy with specific queries or for more general reassurance that we are heading in the right direction. The biannual events are also really useful in terms of providing focus on a specific theme as well as the networking opportunities and sharing of ideas.
What advice would you give to other businesses considering signing up for Worcestershire Works Well?
Go for it! Make sure you get senior level buy in first. Involve people from across your organisation- make sure you have representation from different locations, departments and levels in the hierarchy. Use the toolkit to guide your journey. Keep up the communications- use whatever channels you have to make sure all are involved. It helps if you
have a small budget but you can also make use of free resources available through national and local health campaigns.
In approximately 20 words, please summarise your Worcestershire Works Well experience
Worcestershire Works Well is invaluable in helping us take a holistic and co-ordinated approach to improving our staff health and wellbeing.
To find out more about Worcestershire Works Well, please click here.